The conventional door handle unit disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid Open No. 55-109758 is constructed as follows. The handle unit comprises a case secured to a door, a keeper attached to a fixed frame member, a lever type handle having one end portion pivoted to the case, and a latch slidably fitted within the case and coming into engagement with and disengagement from the keeper. And an actuating projection formed at the pivoted end portion of the handle is engaged with the latch.
In the door handle unit of this type, when the handle is pulled to rotate the actuating projection and retreat the latch toward the case side, engagement of the latch with the keeper is released. However, since such a lever type handle includes the lever having a long arm, an excessive force acts on the pivoted portion of the handle or the thin walled portion and the notched portion in the vicinity thereof. Thus, there may occur troubles of breakage or distortion in not a few cases. This breakage or distortion problem has become recently more and more serious with an increase in size and weight of doors for refrigerators, freezers, etc. To solve such problems it has been proposed to change materials or to modify a shape and construction of handles in various manners.